Man gets 19 years for his role in killing

A 30-year-old man was sentenced to 19 years in prison yesterday for his role in a 2010 home invasion in which his accomplice fatally shot one of the residents at a Far East Side apartment.

John Futty, The Columbus Dispatch

A 30-year-old man was sentenced to 19 years in prison yesterday for his role in a 2010 home invasion in which his accomplice fatally shot one of the residents at a Far East Side apartment.

Kristan Flemister told a Franklin County judge that he "had no idea anyone was going to get hurt" when he agreed to participate in an armed robbery seeking drugs and money at 6615 Strattford Lakes Blvd.

"I have a hard time understanding how you thought nothing was going to happen when you force your way into a home, armed with guns, and drugs are involved," she said.

Albert A. Johnson, 47, was shot by John U. Grant III in a bedroom of the apartment during the robbery on Dec. 1, 2010.

Assistant Prosecutor Jason Kester said Grant persuaded Flemister to carry a gun and go with him to the apartment to commit the robbery on behalf of a woman who thought she had been cheated by Johnson out of prescription pills and money.

Flemister stayed in the front room and held a gun on Johnson's roommate, Wanda Walton, while Grant took Johnson into the bedroom. After the shooting, the two fled with a duffel bag filled with items from the apartment.

The victim's nephew called the killing "senseless."

"My uncle maybe wasn't innocent of everything, but he didn't deserve to die the way he did over some pills," Kevin Whitely said. "(Flemister) is 30 and he messed his whole life up over something so stupid."

Flemister, formerly of Greenfield Drive in Franklinton, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, involuntary manslaughter and using a gun in the crime.

Grant, 39, formerly of Burgess Avenue on the West Side, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in July 2011 after pleading guilty to aggravated robbery and involuntary manslaughter.